Organization

Mission

The Birkeland Centre for Space Science (BCSS) started in March 2013. It is led from the Department of Physics and Technology at the University of Bergen (UiB) with nodes at NTNU and UNIS. The overarching scientific objective of the BCSS is to understand ”How the Earth is coupled to space”. Under this title we have formulated four main questions where we have identified fundamental gaps in our knowledge:

1. When and why is the aurora in the two hemispheres asymmetric?
2. How do we get beyond the static large-scale picture of the ionosphere?
3. What are the effects of particle precipitation on the atmospheric system?
4. What is the role of energetic particles from thunderstorms in geospace?

The BCSS is organized in four scientific groups focusing on each of these questions. In addition, we have two groups to design, build and operate state-of-the art instrumentation, one for space and one for ground-based instrumentation. We also have a group for education and public outreach.